Looks like I really have to buckle down and not use a cell phone at all while I am driving. Such steep fines are looming. Who has extra money for these steep fines and what the ticket acutally costs when you receive it?

Hopefully this will be enough to deter the 30-40% who haven't figured out that using a handheld cell phone is dangerous. And, I see lots of people who are using speaker phone capability, but holding it near their mouths--this is also illegal!!!

I doubt the law will make a big difference, though--it's very tough to catch these folks, and they don't believe they're doing anything potentially harmful.

These penalties still aren't enough to overcome people's assessment of the penalty vs. the risk of being caught. If the data TRULY shows that texting/calling while driving is as dangerous as DUI, then make the penalty the same. Report the names of the violators in the crime blog just like DUIs.

Otherwise we're just putzing around.

Anything short of DUI penalties is BS.

@Old Ben and Deterrent: I hate to post what is basically a "Me too" here, but you're right on the money. If the data truly supports the contention that texting while driving is equally as hazardous as DUI, then the penalties should indeed be identical. It simply makes perfect common sense.

This is a money grab by the state and county. The law is flawed and so is Simitian. It's not the holding of the cell phone that's distracting the driver, it's the inattention which is caused by the conversation that is the distraction! I don't need to have both hands on the steering wheel to drive safely, in fact regardless if I have a phone or some other object in my hand, both hands are rarely on the steering wheel together. How many times have you seen drivers with a cup of coffee in their hand or eating while driving. If you believe Simitian and the CHP these people should be getting into accidents also, and if this is true these things should be banned while driving. The law is poorly written and does not address the real issues which is DISTRACTED DRIVING in particular while having a phone conversation. Simitian is using the cellular phone as a scape goat to push a law that I suspect has something to do with the lobbyist who is the money behind this bill. This is par for the course for California politics and legislators lining their own pockets while this becomes more and more a nanny state with the highest tax's in the country! Just another way of taxing californian's through "fees" without raising tax's.

this suks. let me txt wen i want to

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